2LP - Black Vinyl.
A quick internet search brings up some extraordinary footage of Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry producing a session at the Black Ark. Taken from the film ‘Roots, Rock, Reggae’, directed by Jeremy Marre, the sequence shows Junior Murvin collaborating with members of the Congos and the Heptones on a song improvised on the spot for the film crew. Before the vocals are recorded, the Upsetters lay down the backing track. The musical director of the session is the afro-haired bass player, Boris Gardiner; unusually, it is he who counts in the band to start each take. After a long conversation with Boris a few years back, I asked Lee about his contribution to the Black Ark sound.
At a time when 8 and 16 track recording had become the norm in most high end studios, Lee recorded everything to a semi-professional TEAC 4 track recorder, which he can be seen casually adjusting with a screwdriver in the film clip. He explained that since he would end up mixing down to a stereo (or two track) master, more tracks would just be a distraction.
Lee Perry: ‘It was not a professional tape recorder, I was using those TEAC 4 track set that they was trying like experiment to see what would happen. Well, I have it all set up. The first thing I’d think about, all right, is you have to mix everything back down to the 2 track stereo or 1 track mono. Then you can press it and release it. So I knew what I wanted at the end, and I balance it just like that in the studio with the instruments. Sometime when you put only four or five instrument in the studio, you have a better, cleaner record, you can hear what everybody play. And if you have maybe eight musician in the studio, it’s more like a confusion, because everybody wants to play a different thing, yunno. If you is the producer and you can tell them what you want to hear it will be better. So I can put the bass and drum together on one track because me know exactly what me need. If you don’t know, then you need more tracks so you can balance it later. So for the backing, I would just do the two tracks: the bass and drum and percussion track, that is one; and the guitar, organ and piano on another track, that is two. So you still have two more tracks if you want to do vocal, that would be three. And if you want to do horns or a harmony vocal, you can do that on the fourth track. To me it’s a waste of time, a waste of energy with a 24 track machine, waste of current and waste of money. Because it all have to come down to one or two tracks in the end.’
The early Black Ark sound was stripped down and minimal, often with only one or two musicians playing keyboard or guitar. Lee would also use extreme EQ to emphasize the bass and tops, and his hi-hat sound is instantly recognisable from the earliest days of the Ark.
Tracklist:
A1. Junior Murvin – Roots Train (previously unreleased dub plate mix) [03:58]
A2. Jimmy Riley – Woman Gotta Have Love (previously dubplate mix) [03:26]
A3. The Upsetters – Set Up Yourself [03:41]
A4. Henrick Nicholson – Brotherly Love [05:05]
B1. Junior Murvin – Lets Fall In Love [03:37]
B2. Eric Donaldson – Say A Little Prayer 12′ Mix [08:03]
B3. Jimmy Riley – I Never Had It So Good [02:38]
B4. Junior Murvin – Mr Craven [03:09]
C1. Lord Creator – Such Is Life [04:50]
C2. The Upsetters – Such Is Life Version [05:07]
C3. Danny Clarke – Nuh Fi Run It Down [03:44]
C4. The Upsetters – Nuh Fi Run It Down Version [04:28]
D1. Lee Perry - What A Sin (Extended Mix) [06:58]
D2. Bobby Ellis – Ska Baby [03:08]
D3. The Upsetters – Ska Version [03:14]
D4. The Upsetters – Beard Man Shuffle [07:12]